Looking for a little help. Just made my firs batch of snack sticks and the texture was chalky. I made a 10 lb batch using 6 lbs of untrimmed tri tip beef and 4 pounds of pork shoulder. I ran it through the 3/8 grinder first and then added all my seasoning and cheese. I then mixed all ingredients including 45 grams of carrot fiber and then ran through the 1/8 grinding plate. I then hand mixed for 8 minutes and added my water and 45 grams of citric acid and mixed for an additional 12 minutes. I noticed that as soon as i mixed the citric acid in, the texture changed from sticky to chalky. I then stuffed into a 19mm collagen casings and hun in the smoker for 1 hr at 125, 1hr at 140, 2 hours at 155, then turned it up to 175, added smoke and cooked until internal temperature of 160. I then removed and placed in an ice bath for 10 minutes. Let them come to room temperature for 1 hour. The flavor was good but the texture was chalky. I know that I messed up and should have only mixed the citric acid in the ladd minute but was that my only mistake. Did i use tooo much citric acid or carrot fiber?
